Xiaomi shows what a foldable could look like if Samsung had competition

sheldonemerson Last Updated: 2022-08-31

3 minutes read

Xiaomi shows what a foldable could look like if Samsung had competition

The Xiaomi Mix Fold 2 has launched in China just days after Samsung announced its next generation of foldable handsets, with Xiaomi looking to gain an advantage over its competition with a slimmer design, bigger displays, and a more affordable price.

The Mix Fold 2 has several improvements over the original Mi Mix Fold released last year that go beyond dropping the Mi branding. The Fold 2 is powered by Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 SoC flagship chipset, with 12GB of RAM and several storage options ranging from 256GB to 1TB. It also features an improved hinge and comes in either gold or black.

The Xiaomi Mix Fold 2 in Black — *Just in case you wanted to know if the Xiaomi Mix Fold 2 looks good in black.*

As a foldable, you’re getting a 6.56-inch OLED outer display (2520 x 1080) with a long 21:9 aspect ratio and an 8.02-inch LTPO 2.0 inner display (2160 x 1914), which are both slightly larger than Samsung’s 6.2-inch OLED outer display (2316 x 904) and 7.6-inch (2176 x 1812) OLED inner display found on the Galaxy Z Fold 4. Both of the Mix Fold 2 displays run at 120Hz with a brightness of 1,000 nits. The outer display is protected by the latest (and toughest) Corning Gorilla Glass Victus, while the main folding display uses Schott ultra-thin glass just like Samsung has been known to use.

Xiaomi’s foldable features a triple camera setup with a primary 50-megapixel camera, a 13-megapixel ultrawide, and an eight-megapixel telephoto with 2x optical zoom. There’s also a 20-megapixel hole-punch camera in the front for selfies.

The Xiaomi Mix Fold 2 as seen from the rear when open — *The Xiaomi Mix Fold 2 as seen from the rear when folded open.*

Xiaomi’s announcement comes after Samsung released two foldable devices of its own on Wednesday — the Galaxy Z Flip 4 and the Galaxy Z Fold 4 — which will create some much-needed competition in the foldables market if the Mix Fold 2 ever ships to markets outside of China. One way that Xiaomi is trying to get a leg up over its Korean rivals is its claim that the Xiaomi Mix Fold 2 is the “world’s thinnest foldable phone.” At just 5.4mm, it shaves almost 15 percent of the thickness off the 6.3mm Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4.

It’s not all sunshine and device-measuring contests, though, as Samsung’s flagship offering includes a useful Flex mode (Samsung’s terminology for applications automatically reorienting to fit a folded screen) and IPX8 water resistance, two features that the Xiaomi Mix Fold 2 lacks. Nevertheless, Xiaomi’s 4,500mAh battery capacity is still a smidge larger than the 4,400mAh battery found inside Samsung’s Z Fold 4. The Mix Fold 2 also supports 67W wired fast charging, with the brand claiming that a full charge can be achieved in 40 minutes, while the Z Fold 4 only supports up to 25W fast charging by comparison, with Samsung claiming the handset can achieve up to 50 percent of its battery capacity in 30 minutes.

The Xiaomi Mix Fold 2 held half open — *Given the lack of a competitor to Samsung’s Flex mode, you probably won’t want to hold the handset half open like this.*

At present, the Xiaomi Mix Fold 2 is only available for purchase in China, with no announcements regarding when the phone could be making its way to other markets. Pricing for the 256GB base model is set at CNY 8,999 (around $1,300 USD) which significantly undercuts the CNY 13,999 (over $2,000 USD) Samsung is asking for the 256GB version of its Z Fold 4 in the country.

If those prices hold for an international launch, then Samsung could finally face some serious competition in foldables, especially in price-sensitive markets like India where Xiaomi is already No. 1 by market share and Samsung just dropped to fourth place, according to IDC.